PR #74870: Skip auto-update on Homebrew installs with clear hint (#74754)

• Repository: openclaw/openclaw
• Author: Sanjays2402
• State: open | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/74870

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Closes #74754

Problem

The auto-update path runs openclaw update --yes --channel <channel> --json after the daily check. That command uses npm internally and cannot update a Homebrew-installed binary. On Homebrew installs (brew install openclaw or the tap formula), the daily auto-update either silently no-ops or runs an npm install against a directory the brew node wrapper does not see, so users on Homebrew never get auto-updated and have no clue why.

Reproduced with brew install openclaw on Apple Silicon: update.json records hasUpdate: true for weeks, but autoFirstSeenAt resets every restart and no install ever runs.

Fix

Detect Homebrew-managed installs before spawning the auto-update child:

• New src/infra/homebrew-install.ts matches the package root (and its realpath) against the canonical Homebrew layouts:
  • <HOMEBREW_PREFIX>/Cellar/openclaw/<version>/... (versioned keg)
  • <HOMEBREW_PREFIX>/opt/openclaw/... (stable opt symlink)
  • Works for /opt/homebrew (Apple Silicon), /usr/local (Intel), and /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew (Linuxbrew).
• update-startup.ts calls the helper before invoking runAutoUpdateCommand. When matched it:
  • Skips the doomed npm invocation entirely.
  • Logs auto-update skipped: Homebrew-managed install (run: brew upgrade openclaw) with the detected Cellar version and channel tag so the user understands why no install ran and what to do next.
  • Reuses the existing lastNotifiedVersion/lastNotifiedTag persistence so the hint fires once per (version, tag) pair rather than every heartbeat.

The explicit openclaw update CLI is intentionally untouched - the issue is about the silent auto-update path. CLI-side parity can land separately if desired.

Tests

• src/infra/homebrew-install.test.ts (14 cases): pure-string detection across Apple Silicon, Intel, Linuxbrew, opt-symlink and Cellar layouts; rejects vanilla npm globals; realpath-based detection across symlinked opt directories; ghost paths.
• src/infra/update-startup.test.ts: new case asserts the auto-update child is not invoked and the brew-upgrade hint is logged with the right metadata when the resolved root sits inside Cellar.

✓ infra ../../src/infra/update-startup.test.ts (12 tests)
✓ infra ../../src/infra/homebrew-install.test.ts (14 tests)

 Test Files  2 passed (2)
      Tests  26 passed (26)

Risk

Low. The helper is read-only path matching plus a realpath() lookup. Fall-through behaviour for non-Homebrew installs is unchanged. Worst case a misdetection skips one auto-update cycle and the next openclaw update invocation still works.

Changed files

• CHANGELOG.md (modified, +6/-0)
• src/infra/homebrew-install.test.ts (added, +154/-0)
• src/infra/homebrew-install.ts (added, +95/-0)
• src/infra/update-startup.test.ts (modified, +52/-0)
• src/infra/update-startup.ts (modified, +20/-0)